I love you guys, you write to me and it makes me smile. I wish sometimes that I were not so socially-oriented, but I am. I love connecting with others, and I think usually this is a good thing. Anyway…

Mary Ann S. writes (about some yarn I got online which was too dark for what I wanted but we figured out that it was perfect for her):

Remember the beautiful Jaggerspun teal yarn you won on eBay – and subsequently sold to me? Thought you’d like to see the end result…

…My circle of friends are not knitters and really don’t appreciate my ‘art’…

…The shawl is the Boundary Waters pattern. The finished piece measures
approximately 65″ square… photo has it folded and on my shoulders –
making me think of being wrapped in the Caribbean (which is why I wanted
that particular color yarn.) It weighs just a little over 4 ounces – made it
on #8 needles – and it took a few months to complete. It is one of those
things that I worked on when my husband wasn’t around and the dog wasn’t
pestering me…

…Thanks again for your kind words. I knit ALL the time – and I knit
everything imaginable – but lace knitting is my favorite.

Mary Ann, thanks for letting me know about this happy ending. Your shawl is beautiful!

Emma also wrote. She is so kind. She reminds me of things that matter, like sitting still for a moment here and there. And reminds me that a little knitting can go a long way in the mellowing-out department.

She mentions, in the nitty-gritty-knitting department, that what Elizabeth Zimmerman meant when she said thick yarn takes more than you can imagine and thin yarn less, that she was talking about weight. Thinner yarn takes more yardage but less weight, and thick yarn the opposite. That makes a lot of sense. The fat lumpy-bumpy scarf had yarn positively huge in parts, and I only had 214 or so yards but it made a substantial stole.

I am now working on a summer stole for a class I’ll be offering at Woven Art this summer. It has a very thin shiny rayon yarn as its unifying strand, with all sorts of “froofy” yarns (is froofy a word?) to go with it – shiny ribbon, eyelash of every sort, and a few others for interest. Very fun, very lively. All sorts of pinks, corals, fuschia, and a tiny bit of a soft green for variety. All handpainted by Nancy McRay. It should be great fun. Maybe you can tell from the picture of the “before” yarns, how lovely this piece will soon be.